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It is my great joy to minister the word to you again this morning, and I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter one, as we continue our verse-by-verse study through this wonderful historical account of the early church.

Before we look at the text, may I remind you a bit of the context. The apostles had just seen the Lord Jesus Christ ascend into glory, and their hearts were now filled with a sense of bittersweet. There was a bittersweet anticipation of all that would come, and certainly a reflection of all that had happened as they walked with the Lord, and now they had that hike back to Jerusalem; they were on the Mount of Olives, little village called Bethany. Some of you have been there, as I have, and they had to walk down the Mount of Olives over the Kidron Valley, back up into Jerusalem. And when they did, as they walked over the little brook there in the Kidron Valley - one that had earlier run red with blood because of the sacrifices coming out of the Temple Mount - no doubt they were reminded of the blood of Christ, and all that he had done for them. Emotions certainly ran high with the apostles that day they had been plagued in the past with the fear of man, confusion, guilt. They had then been overwhelmed with astonishment and joy as Jesus appeared to them.

You will recall, and then for 40 days they had watched the miraculous manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorified body. They had sat at his feet to hear him unfold the glorious purposes of God and redemption on all of the aspects of the kingdom of God, the spiritual kingdom, as well as the coming earthly kingdom. And with utter amazement, they had heard him promise a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would come and indwell them permanently. They also had heard him commission them to be his witnesses in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth, and then suddenly before their eyes they saw their Savior, their Messiah King ascend back into heaven in a cloud of glory. What an amazing spectacle. And then two angels to come along and say, don't be dismayed here, guys, relax, he's going to return the same way that he went up. And as I thought about it, that had to have been an indescribable and stressful season in the lives of the apostles and the others, about 50 days they endured all of these various experiences, and now their shepherd was gone, like a small army that had just lost their general, they were all alone, no doubt. Tears of sorrow mingled with their tears of joy and anticipation, especially for Peter, because you will recall the Lord had promised Peter that eventually he would be crucified for his faith, and certainly all of the rest of the apostles knew well the high cost of following Christ. Of course, it was much easier to follow the Lord and to serve Him when he was right there by your side, but now he was gone. They needed more than ever, the presence of the living God; they needed a permanent indwelling presence of God, and they would soon have it.

So, with their hearts racing, because of having been awestruck by the glory of God and his ascension and Christ's ascension, and now having to deal with the reality of his absence, they returned to Jerusalem, and we know, according to Luke's Gospel, in Luke 24:52 that they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God. They had a real burst of energy, even though the Lord was gone. They had seen him conquer death and Satan and sin, and they were excited, and yet he was gone. And so there had to have been many emotions running through their minds, but it was not time to continue to hide in the shadows as they did before. No more worrying, no more fretting. Now they must do what they were told to do, and that was to wait for the Father, wait for what the Father had promised them, and that would be the Holy Spirit that would come upon them about 10 days later.

But I want you to understand, before we read the text, that that time of waiting for the Holy Spirit was not a time of idle musing, nor some morbid reflection upon what is going to happen in their lives, or whatever. This was a time for worship, it was a time for prayer, and it was a time for praise, and that's what they did continually, even in the temple. It was a time to prayerfully prepare for battle, and that is precisely what they did. Thus, I have entitled my discourse to you this morning "Prayerful Preparations for Battle."

Now, with that introduction, let's read the text, beginning in verse 12 of chapter one.

"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

"These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about 120 persons was there together), and said,

"'Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

"'For he was counted among us and received his portion in this ministry.'

"(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.

"And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

"For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no man dwell in it'; and, 'his office let another man take it.'

"'It is therefore necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us -

"beginning with the baptism of John, until the day that He was taken up from us - one of these should become a witness with us of His resurrection.'

"And they put forward two men, Joseph, called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

"And they prayed and said, 'Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chosen

"'to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.'

"And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was numbered with the 11 apostles."

As we journey through this historical account of the days between the Lord's ascension and Pentecost, those days just prior to the birth of the church, I believe the Spirit of God would have us understand several key issues in this text, and focus on three essential categories of truth, each being a treasure chest filled with many gems of spiritual insight. And here we will see three things: number one, the priority of prayer; number two, the perfection of prophecy; and number three, the providence of God. And beloved, I believe that we will each find ourselves in this text somewhere this morning. We will both be exposed, as well as edified. We will be ashamed as well as amazed and convicted, as well as comforted; and if none of that happens, you do not have spiritual life in you. And my prayer is that each of us will be forever changed because of what we learn here today.

So first we examine the priority of prayer, and before we look at this closely, I must say that it is here that I will struggle most with my emotions, for it is here that I grieve the greatest for this church. I believe with all my heart that it is in prayer that we are the weakest and we are the most vulnerable to defeat here at Calvary Bible Church. I believe that it is our besetting sin.

Now, first notice in verse 12, "They returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away."

Let me explain this to you. You see, the Israelites in the wilderness would spread their tents no more than 2000 cubits from the tabernacle. Whenever they camped, they would spread their tents around that tabernacle, but no further away than 2000 cubits, which was about three quarters of a mile, and since you could not work on the Sabbath, you could only worship. There would be no need to walk any further than that distance. And what is interesting is that the rabbis in their traditions and in their rabbinic laws continued that tradition, and therefore the Jews were only allowed to journey about three fourths of a mile on a Sabbath day. Thus, a Sabbath day's journey from the little village of Bethany on top of Mount Olivet to Jerusalem would be about three quarters of a mile, a Sabbath day's journey.

Then, in verse 13, we read, "And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, which, where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James."So, here we read that the disciples returned to their familiar meeting place, that upper room, probably the same one where they had enjoyed the last supper with the Lord Jesus, probably the same place where Jesus had appeared to them after his resurrection; and it had to have been a very large room, because we see later in verse 15 it was big enough to accommodate 120 people.

I want you to notice at the end of verse 14 we see that the 11 apostles were also accompanied by the women, and we don't know for sure, but probably this would have included the female entourage that was typically with them, probably Mary and Martha, probably Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas, maybe Salome, maybe other women we don't know; along with it says, "Mary the mother of Jesus and with His brothers." That would have been James and Joses (Joseph) and Jude and Simon; and then we notice from Luke's account again that they were continually in the temple praising God.

But notice what else this fledgling little church was doing that the first part of verse 14. It says, "These" referring to the 11 apostles, "...all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..." but notice it was not just them; it was, "along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." And perhaps many others, along with them, "with one mind, they were continually devoting themselves to prayer." As I think about this, as I can see them in that room, in my mind's eye, I find myself just shaking my head with amazement at how dedicated these people were with the priority of prayer. They all with one mind, in other words, with unity of spirit, with the same passion, with the same purpose and fervor, continually devoted themselves to prayer. And beloved, here we have the historical precedent for prayer meetings in the church. Though we are not told the specific nature of their prayers, we can safely assume that they were considered consistent with that which Jesus had taught them in Matthew six - prayer is filled with praise as well as petition.

You will recall the outline in Matthew six in the Lord's model for prayer. It would begin by addressing the glory of God, and they would offer praise and petitions regarding his name, his kingdom, and his will, they would pray that the kingdom would, would come to earth, that sinners would be converted, that the Lord Jesus Christ would reign in the hearts of men. They would pray for the King of kings and the Lord of lords to return again and establish his glorious kingdom, so that indeed someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. They would pray that Christ would take back his rightful authority from the current ruler of this age and be exalted in heaven as well as on earth. And then they would also pray for his will to be done as it is in heaven. Therefore, pray that we would all have the mind of Christ, that we would walk with Christ, that we would pursue the will of the Father as he did, that we would pursue his will on earth as it is in heaven, meaning his will in heaven certainly is done without hesitation. It's done without question, joyfully, fervently, completely, perfectly, continually.

They would pray also then for their own needs, petitions regarding daily bread, referring to our dependence on God for the portion that he will give us. They would pray for forgiveness, recognizing the ongoing debt of sin that we have, and also protection from temptation, praying that God would defend us because of our weakness, our proclivity to sin. Think of it, having enjoyed sweet communion with the Lord himself for all of these years, and, and now being separated from him, it caused them to do what you would expect them to do, and that is to run to someplace as a group and cry out before him that they might experience his presence and commune with him. Beloved, that's what a prayer meeting is all about. There is no greater joy in life - and I want to say this again - there is no greater joy in life than communing and fellowshipping with the living God in prayer. To come before him in prayer and with the open word and to understand who he is and talk with him and allow him to speak to us through the Spirit as he reveals himself to us in his word; that is the quintessential joy of life. Beloved, that is the essence of worship. Those who are undisciplined in prayer, those who have little time to join with other saints and their church family to come together and pray, are those who know little of communing with their God. You see, friends, you will never long for that which you have never experienced, and that's what grieves me about many, and many churches, and some even in this church. I think, as a pastor, oh God, for 120 Christ-loving saints to fill this room on a Wednesday night. Imagine what that would be like to come together with one mind spiritually united in purpose and passion and being continually devoted in prayer. Beloved, I would take 10 minutes, I would take 10 minutes and rejoice in that for what they did in 10 days.

I think about the perilous days in which we live, days of mounting apostasy, and sometimes it may be hard for some of you to realize it, because you live in kind of a sacred bubble, if you will, of Calvary Bible Church in this family. But you get outside this bubble, and you will find people that absolutely hate the God that we love and serve. You realize there are estimated 1000 Christians that are tortured and martyred for their faith around the world every day. Let me tell you, those people in those places, don't have to be encouraged to come together to pray. But I think about the ravenous wolves that are preying upon the flock of the true church. I think about Satan, a roaring lion that's on the prowl, seeking to devour, seducing our children with all manner of deception. I think of our lost friends and family members that are perishing in their sins, and I think, oh, if we would only come together as a church family and pray, turn off our televisions and come together and pray like the early church to come together like that little flock of defenseless, and in many ways ignorant, sheep huddled together in a room in a time of great danger, longing to hear the voice of their shepherd, utterly dependent upon his tender care, crying out for his presence to experience somehow his power and his glory. Oh, yes, we need no encouragement to come together and pray when our physical lives are in some great jeopardy, but seldom will we bend to the knee for our own spiritual needs and for the glory of God. This is not a priority.

My friends, the early church came together to pray. Together they poured out their hearts to God in praise and petition, praying for the glory of God to fill the earth, praying for sinners to be converted, praying for husbands and wives and children and grandchildren, praying for spiritual discernment, praying for power, praying that they would bear much fruit, praying that somehow the Lord would hurry and return and come back. That was the heart of the early church, and I fear that we have lost that. Oh, for us to do the same in corporate prayer. I want you to understand, I am not speaking necessarily to those of you who are unable, for good reasons, to attend our meetings that we will have for corporate prayer, especially on Wednesday nights. I know that for some of you, you have very legitimate reasons that God honors, reasons that would prevent you from being here, but it is not you that I address. The ones that I address are those of you who find every conceivable excuse to avoid praying with your church family. It is to your conscience that I appeal and those of you who feel no sense of divine urgency to come together to pray, those of you who will be first in line when it's time to eat, but nowhere to be found when it's time to pray, those of you who are potluck warriors, not prayer warriors; those of you who have a priority for your belly, not for your soul; those of you who, if you are honest, prefer the fleeting pleasures of this life rather than coming together and communing with God's people in crying out for a real presence of the living God, it's to you that I address. Oh, for each of us to somehow grab hold of the battering ram of prayer, and to throw our backs into it, to throw all of our weight into it, and to assault the gates of heaven with a holy fervor, with a sacred violence, seeking the glory of God and the presence of the triune God. Imagine, dear friends, the blessings that he would pour out upon us if we came together in a disciplined way, and prayed together as a church family, like the early church.

Imagine for a moment if you were a father, and even if you're not, let's say that you are, and suddenly your entire family comes together in a room and says, Dad, we are here to do two things: we are here to praise you for all that you have done for us, and we are also here to petition you to help us, because we so desperately need your help. Now, what would you do as a father? You would do all that you could for your children. Now imagine being the same father, and very seldom do the kids ever show up. I think of the times in the past when this church has been under great satanic attack. I think of those times when we've been under siege, and I remember those times when great numbers of our people would come out to pray. And I remember how people with tears flowing down their cheeks would cry out to God, and I remember how God answered those prayers in ways that are just unimaginable, and we can rejoice with exceeding joy, seeing what God has done, and yet I reflect on how those numbers have dwindled. I look around at the paltry few that show up on Wednesday nights. Sometimes it's only maybe a dozen men in that room, and maybe a dozen women.

Those of you who should be here but choose not to be, I ask you, "Where are you?" The Lord asks you, "Where are you?" I think of the poorly attended fall season of petition and praise during the Thanksgiving week, where we have a sign-up place out there for people to come here; and we have a thing set up, as many of you know, and it will be the same handful of people that will come to pray through the night and through the day. Where's the rest of you? And yet I think, how God has honored the prayers of so few.

Think what he would do if we would all come together and pray, but rather many times we are like the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Lord asked them to come and to watch and to pray, because his soul was grieved to the point of death. "Just watch and pray with me here." But what did they do? They fell asleep. And I fear that too often we are asleep, even here at this church and it grieves my heart. Just think what it would be like if we all came together to pray and come together with one mind and continually devote ourselves to prayer. Imagine if the same number of people that are here today were here on Wednesday nights. Imagine if every one of you turned around and you were on your knees and we began to assault the gates of heaven for God's presence and for his power.

Some would ask, "Well, why is there so such a disinterest in corporate prayer these days?" In fact, many churches have given up on Wednesday night prayer meetings. You know, people just don't have time for that. Well, I believe the answer is for most people it's not a matter of time as much as it is that of spiritual immaturity, lack of personal holiness. Its hypocrisy, misplaced values and priorities, it's all kinds of things. But I'm also convinced that many of you labor little in corporate prayer because you labor little in private prayer and I also believe that many fail to see the need for such piety in the church family because you've never seen it modeled in your personal family and I believe also that many have never experienced the great moving of the Spirit of God when his people come together to pray they have never witnessed some mysterious and profound answer to fervent prayers. But for those who have, corporate prayer is a privilege that they would not miss. It is a priority. It is not some perfunctory ritual. It is not some low priority option. It is something that their soul cries out for more of.

Thomas Brooks, as well, said, "God hears no more than the heart speaks, and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf." There are accounts of corporate prayer meetings all through Acts, where saints came together as a family and poured out their hearts to God. Let me take just a few minutes and remind you of them. We see this dedication to piety, for example, in Acts 2:42 there we read,

"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

"Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe."

Beloved, I ask you, when was the last time you felt a sense of awe over the way God was working in your life? How long has it been since you shook your head at the wonder of some great work of God in your life, or in another person's life, or in the life of the church as a direct answer to prayer? Down through history we can see that whenever the Spirit of God poured himself out in some special way and swept over his people with some great wind of revival, we can see that it was always in the context of people that were praying people and people that were consistently and systematically devoted to the exposition of the word of God. Oh, for such a fresh wind to blow through this church. Oh, for such a wind to somehow come along and fan the embers of spiritual lethargy into a blaze of Spirit-filled saints that worship and serve the living God in a way that would absolutely astound the world. I would ask you, when has such a notion topped your prayer list?

In Acts four, Peter and John and other companions rejoiced in God's sovereign control over their lives and ministry, and together we read in verse 24, "...they lifted their voices to God with one accord," and in verse 31 it says, "And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness." Now, though we know that many of those same types of miraculous powers are no longer given in the same way, spiritual power of the Holy Spirit certainly is available, and beloved, it is that spiritual power that we all so desperately need, don't you understand?

But we will never have it apart from fervent prayer - prayers that believe; a faith that watches and waits; and all of this, of course, finds its substance in the corporate prayers of passionate saints.

Another example of the early prayer meeting in Acts is in Acts 12, when Peter was locked away in prison. You remember that story? Verse five says that the, "...prayers for him were being made fervently by the church to God." We know that God answered those prayers, and Peter was miraculously freed. It says in verse 12, “And when he realized this," in other words, realized that he was free, "...he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together, and were..." guess wwhat, “..praying." Oh, would that we too gather together in fervent prayer, and seek the Lord of hosts to be our defender in this great battle for the truth.

We have another example in Acts 13. We read that the Holy Spirit responded to the fasting and prayers of the church in Antioch, and it was in that context that they called for Paul and Barnabas to be, "set apart for the work of which I have called them", the Spirit of God says. In other words, there we have an example whereby God works through corporate prayer meetings to lead his people in discerning who should be used in Christian service. I think of all of the plans and the ministries and the programs that we can come up with, but friends, all of those plans are doomed from the beginning unless they are forged in the fires of corporate prayer.

In Acts 16, when Paul first came into Europe, we know that Luke joined him, along with Silas and with Timothy, and together they came to a place in Philippi, on the outskirts of town, where there was a group of women on the side of a river, and guess what they were doing, they came together religiously to pray, and as they came together with Paul and the others, and as they were praying, we read in the text that a woman named Lydia listened in, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. Isn't that fascinating? Beloved, don't you see, not only does God answer our prayers for sinners to be converted, but he even uses the disciplined prayers of the saints as a testimony of his saving grace. There have been people in this church who have been saved because they have witnessed the prayers of other saints. Only the most hardened sinner could possibly eavesdrop on a prayer meeting and come away with a belligerent, hostile attitude, an attitude of contempt or indifference, because such a scene would haunt him until the day that he repented or the day that he entered hell itself. My dear friends, I plead with you to recommit yourselves to corporate prayer. To become a prayer partner here at Calvary Bible Church.

As I think about it, there will come a day when each person in here is going to experience some great tragedy in your life. It's going to come someday. Those of you who are parents with young children, you're going to have one of your children break your heart someday. The news from the doctor is not going to be good. Someday the phone is going to ring, and you are going to be shaken to the core. Now, when that day comes, and you call upon your church to to pray for you, I ask you, would you prefer that there be a little teeny group of people that come together to pray, or would you rather see the whole body of believers come together to pray? We know which the Lord would prefer, and you know which you would prefer.

It was in the late 1800s that five college students came to hear Charles Haddon Spurgeon preach at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, and while these college students came to the church and were waiting for the sanctuary doors to be open an old gentleman came up to them and greeted them and offered to show them around, and they thought, well, okay, we've got some time to kill here until the sanctuary is open, and so he said, "Would you like to see the heating plant?" And they looked at him with a bit of bewilderment, and quite frankly, they didn't really want to, because it was hot. This was in July, but they didn't want to offend the old man, and so they followed him down a staircase, where he opened a door, and when he opened the door, he turned to them, and he whispered with his finger over his lips, and said, "This is our heating plant." Astonished, the college students looked into a room where there were 700 saints that were bowed in prayer, interceding for the service about to begin upstairs, and praying for their beloved pastor. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself to the young men. It was Spurgeon.

Spurgeon once told his congregation, and I quote, "It is in the spirit of prayer that our strength lies, and if we lose this, the locks will be shorn from Samson, and the church of God will become weak as water and though we, as Samson did, go and try to shake ourselves as at other times we shall hear the cry, 'The Philistines be upon thee, and our eyes will be put out, and our glory will depart, unless we continue mighty in earnest prayer." End quote.

Beloved, this is the greatest need of this church - your church - and your absence betrays your own spiritual immaturity. It also betrays the fact that you are forfeiting spiritual blessing in your life. And might I also add, because of your absence, the lines of our defenses are weakened. We need you, and the Lord of hosts summons you to take your position on the line, for your good and for his glory.

So, first we see the priority of prayer with the early saints as they prepared themselves for the great battle for the truth, and secondly, we see the perfection of prophecy as we shift gears here in this historical narrative; and we see this in the context of the suicide of Judas;  the most notorious hypocrite that ever lived. Somewhere, sometime during that 10-day season of worship and prayer, verse 15, "Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about 120 persons)," and he says, "'Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus."

Now, the scripture to which Peter alluded is quoted in verse 20 from Psalm 69 verse 25 and Psalm 109:8, "Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no man dwell in it," and, "His office let another man take." This was of course a reference to Judas Iscariot, a truth that perhaps Jesus had revealed to them at an earlier time. You have to stop and just shake your head once again in amazement at the perfect fulfillment of Bible prophecy. What an irrefutable testimony to the inspiration of Scripture, because you must remember that only God can know the future, and only a sovereign God can ordain something to happen ultimately to glorify himself, and only a sovereign, omnipotent God can orchestrate all of the events of history to actually accomplish what he said would happen; and here we see, therefore, the perfection of Bible prophecy.

Peter went on to describe Judas in verse 17, "He was counted among us and received his portion in their ministry." And again we know that God placed Judas among the 12, and God knew full well that Judas was unsaved. He was a man filled with hypocrisy and greed. In fact, Jesus describes this in John six, when He said to the apostles, beginning in verse 64 "'There are some of you who do not believe,' for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. Jesus answered them, 'Did I myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil?' Now he meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray Him."

Here we see yet another example of the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Isn't it fascinating? We see that God predetermined Judas to betray Jesus, yet it was Judas' own wicked heart that chose to do so, not some irresistible divine coercion. Therefore, because of his choice, he will be judged.

Verses 18 through 20 goes on and says, "(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness...)" That's actually referring to what the Jewish leaders did. You will recall they had to do something with this blood money. They didn't want that blood to be on them, and in their own perverted legalistic way, they had to do something with it. So they purchased this land from the blood money that had been given back to them. And then we go on to read that, "...falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out." I think the Spirit of God wanted us to see very clearly the absolute devastation of hypocrites. "And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so to that in their own language that field was called the Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his homestead be made desolate and let no man dwell in it,' and 'His office let another man take.'"

Now I have spoken at length about Judas in our study, especially in Matthew, so I'll not repeat it here, but let me say, my, my, what a graphic, dramatic end to this tare among the wheat. The man who had been given an unprecedented spiritual privilege to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ - the incarnate Christ - yet a man who wore a religious veneer, and isn't it amazing that he had everyone fooled, even his own companions? They even trusted him with the money box. And whenever I think of Judas, I tremble at the thought of how many self-deceived hypocrites there may be in the body of Christ; some that are perhaps even in this church, those that will hang around the church for all the wrong reasons, in some way similar to Judas, somehow trying to cash in on God, hang around, maybe to meet new friends, or to network their business, or to find others to help raise their children, to enjoy some kind of a cheap social club where you can have good food from time to time, and great fireworks on the fourth of July, or whatever. Maybe even come so that you in your own mind feel that you can score a bit higher on God's report card and kind of tip the scales of justice a little more in your favor, because after all, this seems to be a church that truly loves God. My friend, those are all the wrong reasons. This church exists for the purpose of worshiping and serving the Triune God, so that sinners can be converted to glorify the living God, so that we can learn to worship Him in spirit and in truth. May I warn you of the immense danger of self deception and hypocrisy that eventually comes from it.

Again, Judas lived with the incarnate Christ, yet like so many in the church today, he squandered his spiritual privilege and never yielded to the Lord Jesus in repentent faith. He never truly repented, he just played some game; he never worshiped and served him as Savior and Lord, and eventually his guilt became more than he could bear. You might say that he had remorse, but without repentance; and there is a huge difference. And that, of course, leads to reformation without regeneration. There will be many people in hell someday that tried to reform their lives, but they were never born again. They were never transformed.

So we see here in this text the priority of prayer and the perfection of prophecy, but yet there's one final preparation that must be made before the apostles and their devoted companions enter into the fray of the gospel ministry, and we see this here in the idea of the providence of God, thirdly. Now here we're going to see, very briefly, the Spirit of God working in the selection process of Judas' replacement, and notice the requirements to which Peter speaks in verse 21,

"It is therefore necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us -

"beginning with the baptism of John, until that day He was taken up from us - one of these should become a witness with us of His resurrection."

In other words, the person to replace Judas had to be a man who was an eyewitness of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, from his baptism through his ascension. And secondly, he must have been an eyewitness to the resurrected Savior, and only two men met these requirements.

Verse 23, "...Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias." And notice how God chose the right man, verses 24 and 25, "And they prayed and said, 'Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his place.'" What a tragic statement. There at the end, Judas went to his place, a place of eternal torment.

Verse 26, "And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was numbered with the 11 apostles." It's interesting, Matthias, the name actually means "gift of God," and indeed he was God's gift, God's choice.

Now, I want you to understand, although the drawing of lots was a common practice to determine the will of God used all through the Old Testament period, after the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it was a practice that was no longer necessary. You see, we have all of the spiritual resources we need through the indwelling Spirit and his Word to make God-honoring decisions. Therefore, what we see is that this is the last occurrence of this practice found anywhere in Scripture. Therefore, we do not continue that practice today.

Well, my friends, may we all learn well from the example of these early Christians who endured so much; men and women who understood the priority of prayer. Imagine again, if we all prayed for 10 days, if we all came together and prayed for 10 days. Those people who rejoice in the perfection of prophecy, even as it pertained to the tragic defection of the traitor Judas; those who through prayer trusted completely in the providence of God to orchestrate even the selection of the right lot to determine his chosen servant. May we all learn from their example and may the Holy Spirit of God apply these truths to our lives. Let's pray together,

Father, I pray that again by your Spirit, you will convict us where we need to be convicted, and Lord, I would cry out to you as your servant that you would pour out upon this church and many 1000s of others like. It a great outpouring of your Spirit, and Lord, we know that if that is to ever occur, it must occur in the context of people who are dedicated to corporate prayer. And finally, Lord, I pray that if there be one here today that knows nothing of the Savior that we have spoken of, that know nothing really of what it means to love and to serve and to obey and to glorify, to cherish, to commune with the lover of their souls, I pray, Lord, that today will be the day that they will run to the foot of the cross and be saved and experience the miracle of the new birth. For it is in Jesus' name that I pray, and for His glorious sake, Amen.